#and it gives curtain a shred of credibility to saying “i should have anticipated that” or whatever

[sophieswundergarten]

Good evening, I saw this and my brain just ran with it.

I am no longer driving the train, I am along for the ride and we'll all see where it goes.

SO

WHAT IF

STAY WITH ME HERE

S. Q. and Constance are related.

This would mean many, many things, as well as the narrative parallels of them being adopted by the Benedict siblings, them being biological cousins, and the other point of them corresponding with the opposite twin. This would also mean that S. Q. could have psychic powers.

Now, here's where we get to the bit about the "George" bird. It is a common idea that psychics and people who experience visions use art as a focus and means of expression. This bird seems to be a blue jay:

Blue jays are known for "their intelligence and complex social systems with tight family bonds", and have even been known on occasion to use tools. Which member of our favorite child espionage quartet does that sound like?

Sticky had only recently arrived on the island, and so S. Q. had probably seen and heard of him a little bit, but not that much. His dad may have mentioned him, and it's possible he had caught a glimpse when he was walking around, but he certainly didn't know him by sight or well at all.

I propose that S. Q. getting names and careers from "just look[ing] at them for a while" is him getting a sense for the person who he is perceiving psychically. When Sticky came on the island, S. Q. likely didn't take that much notice; there are new kids enrolling all of the time, and as at least some of them were kidnapped, he probably got good at (even subconsciously) tuning them out due to all the confusion and noise they created. But, when the kids sent by Mr. Benedict began piquing Curtain's interest, and especially with Reynie about to come in (and with Reynie's close ties to Sticky), Sticky began coming to the forefront of S. Q.'s senses.

I seriously doubt Curtain has talked to S. Q. about any of this, because of how controlling and scared he is, even though he most certainly knew about it. Maybe he got the idea for the Whisperer from S. Q. When he was a baby, and didn't have as good control of his powers, maybe he started accidentally influencing Curtain with his wants and needs. Curtain found himself spending a lot more time with his son, time he didn't think he had. He began holding S. Q. more, and sometimes carrying him into meetings if he fell asleep in his arms. Of course, Curtain takes great pride in being aware of himself and his mental state, so he begins to notice this. Eventually, he notes the connection between these ideas that didn't seem to be his own and his child's wants. It comes to him all at once that 1) S. Q. is most definitely supernaturally gifted, and 2) It took weeks for Curtain to notice because of how different S. Q.'s thoughts were. Now that he was aware, he was able to clearly see how unobtrusive and soft a child's thoughts were when compared to his own. This is where the concept for the Whisperer began.

As he grew, all of S. Q.'s actions and the effect on those around him were closely monitored. Curtain was careful to do this without his son's knowledge, and ran many different tests on him under the guise of different "tutors". Eventually, when he had enough information, he shut S. Q. off from the rest of the world. He had begun to notice that the emotions and judgements of other people had an effect on S. Q. just as much as his thoughts had on them. The child was incredibly sensitive, and since he was raised in such a controlled environment he didn't develop any of the natural defense mechanisms that Constance did. Curtain also made a (misguided) attempt to keep himself even more emotionless and serene when he was around S. Q. so as to try and protect him. In reality, this just made S. Q. more confused because he could always tell when his dad was upset, but it was so distant that he wasn't really aware of it and it turned into him being constantly concerned with whether or not his dad was unhappy with him, or if he was just being paranoid. Curtain kept S. Q. away from any of his work, partly because he was afraid of what it would do to the child, and partly because he was afraid of what his son would say if he knew. This was the origin of the strict rules around visiting the forest, and also the rules about S. Q. being around the other Institute students.

The limited contact he had with his father's staff and the occasional student weren't enough to overwhelm him, but as S. Q. grew up his powers grew stronger (remember, he's a lot older than Constance), and since Curtain deliberately avoided teaching him anything about controlling or understanding them, being around too many other people quickly overwhelmed him. His personality was shy enough that he wouldn't influence others' thoughts, except for his own introvertedness causing them to largely ignore and forget him. He hated having to talk to people, in reality the majority of it was how overloading they were, but his discomfort encouraged any students he happened to be around not to register his presence, and anyone who entered his father's office to pay him no mind. Except for Reynie. Reynie was so attentive and caring that S. Q. immediately sensed he was genuine, and so lowered his guard, allowing Reynie to notice and interact with him. This is also why he believed Reynie even though the kid is terrible at lying; a little bit of it was naivety, but most of it was that he knew Reynie truly wanted to be his friend, even though he also needed to use him.

This is also why he didn't tell Curtain about Reynie being a spy. He was upset, but he still knew that Reynie was telling the truth about the Emergency, and that he was honestly full of regret for lying to him. When Mr. Benedict confronts Curtain in the Whispering Gallery, and he mentions that he "should have expected" Constance being psychic, he is alluding to S. Q. and how he should have known from seeing Constance's strange actions and the way that she destroyed the Whisperer. Eventually, when S. Q. leaves the Institute and ends up with the Benedicts (because it's my version of events and I say so) he is extremely overwhelmed by all of the people and all of the emotions going on. Initially, when he explains himself and Mr. Benedict passes out due to the pure joy of meeting his nephew, his ambient emotion knocks S. Q. out too. But, eventually, and with a lot of help from his new family members, he learns about his skills. Ironically, despite being older and technically more powerful and developed, Constance is the one who teaches him the most. She has had more practical experience with being psychic, and is therefore the authority on the subject.

idk i guess i just find it strange that the one bird we see SQ draw and name just happens to have the same name as one of the main characters (george). idk maybe it just makes me want to theorize that SQ knows a whole lot more than he lets on. idk…